Since 2013, Gateway PGA Members have donated over $1.6 million to help grow, fund, and operate numerous youth development initiatives in the North St. Louis community. From 2013 through 2018, we partnered with Urban K-Life (UKL). This organization provides North St. Louis city teens with mentorship, professional and collegiate advice, financial literacy education, and access to resources often not found in their neighborhoods. Through this partnership, we introduced the game of golf to hundreds of students in physical education classes inside schools. Nearly 75 students engaged in after-school golf programming and caddie internships.

Since 2013, Gateway PGA Members have donated over $1.6 million to help grow, fund, and operate numerous youth development initiatives in the North St. Louis community. From 2013 through 2018, we partnered with Urban K-Life (UKL). This organization provides North St. Louis city teens with mentorship, professional and collegiate advice, financial literacy education, and access to resources often not found in their neighborhoods. Through this partnership, we introduced the game of golf to hundreds of students in physical education classes inside schools. Nearly 75 students engaged in after-school golf programming and caddie internships.

Seeing the opportunity to grow the game’s impact and exposure, UKL staff member Jerome Harris Jr. founded Urban Golf of St. Louis (UGolf) to dedicate 100 percent of his time to using golf’s influence and community to impact North St. Louis students.

UGolf prepares youth in Urban St. Louis for success beyond high school and exposes them to the vast golf community. PGA REACH Gateway underwrites UGolf’s operation, now branded “UGolf powered by PGA REACH Gateway,” and provides PGA Jr League Captains access to PGA Facilities and more. 

“With our after-school programming, community events, caddy internships, and golf camps, UGolf has engaged thousands of first-time golfers and lovers of the game in golf instruction, mentorship, and job training,” said Harris. 

He continued, “We’re excited because these students are not only graduating college, which executes our mission to prepare students to be successful beyond high school, but we’re equally excited when they come back, and they serve, which they did this past summer during our golf camps.”

From 2020 through 2022, the partnership flourished, providing 25 youth scholarships to cover the PGA Jr. League #GameChanger Club, which includes access to their local league, custom uniform, team kit gear, and participation in as many sessions as desired throughout the year. The impact of PGA REACH Gateway’s support saw scholarships skyrocket in 2023 to reach 120 kids. In 2024, with expanded outreach in St. Louis City Schools, that number has continued to grow, reaching 200 scholarships.

In addition to UGolf, PGA REACH Gateway funds Diversity Golf Marketing Foundation (DGMF). Over the past three years, we have partnered with DGMF to provide 60 youth annual access to the PGA Jr. League #GameChanger Club, introducing, in total, more than 180 kids to golf and PGA Professional coaches. Our support allows their network of professional and amateur golf enthusiasts to accomplish their goal of increasing minority participation rates. DGMF runs four PGA Jr. League programs in North St. Louis. Mike Suhre, PGA is the lead Captain for UGolf’s and DGMF’s PGA Jr League programs.

Diversity Golf Marketing Foundation is making history this summer by traveling to Nashville, Tennessee to participate in the inaugural all-black PGA Jr. League match. This groundbreaking event will be held at the Ted Rhodes Golf Course, named after the pioneering black professional golfer. The Jr. League match aims to further the mission of increasing minority participation in the game of golf. There are plans to make this match an annual tradition, with the Ted Rhodes team traveling to St. Louis next year for a rematch.

In 2023, the Gateway PGA launched an innovative new initiative, PGA ABLE (Abilities Beyond Life’s Expectations). Inspired by the success and format of our PGA HOPE programs, PGA ABLE offers 6-8 week instructional golf clinics, led by PGA Professionals, to individuals with intellectual and physical disabilities at no cost. In 2023, we launched our inaugural clinic in partnership with the Albert Pujols Wellness Center for Adults with Down Syndrome at St. Luke’s Hospital. 

By providing a supportive and accessible platform, we believe this initiative will build confidence, nurture friendships, and create lifelong memories for these individuals. As PGA HOPE uses golf to support social, emotional, mental, and physical health, PGA ABLE aims to do the same. 

PGA Member Kevin Corn was vital in getting PGA ABLE off the ground. For 13 years, Kevin has been introducing golf to young patients at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital. Rain or shine, Kevin is there to share his love of golf and put a smile on their face. Since its inception, approximately 5,000 kids aged 4-20 have participated in the program. Officially, it’s a once-a-week activity; however, “The kids enjoy it so much that they’ll talk about it, and they’ll have the therapists get the clubs out for them at other times during the week,” Corn stated in a Golf Channel interview in 2013.

To grow PGA ABLE and continue making the game more accessible, Kevin now runs a PGA ABLE program at Ranken Jordan for outpatient kids. Lance Flury, PGA, has followed Kevin’s lead and will run his second year of PGA ABLE with the Springfield Parks and Recreation Special-Ed group. There are plans to add two more unique PGA ABLE Programs in 2024.  

The Gateway PGA is preparing the next wave of golf industry workers. Since 2018, we have welcomed eight talented individuals as PGA WORKS Fellows. We are proud to showcase that four of our PGA WORKS Fellows have secured employment within the sports industry after their fellowship. 

Following his time with PGA REACH Gateway, our first Fellow, Fernando Molina, spent two years with Golf House Kentucky before returning to St. Louis. Upon returning, he guided the Section’s programming for two years before following his passion for soccer to a premier youth soccer organization. 

Our second Fellow, Cameron Dinkins, was hired by the Northern Florida Section before being called by the PGA REACH national team. She currently serves as the PGA WORKS Leader, overseeing all PGA WORKS Fellows and activations at PGA Championships and PGA WORKS Collegiate Championships.

The Gateway PGA WORKS Fellowship kept churning out great talent when Mackenzie Myers joined the staff in 2021 after a career playing college softball. Upon completing the Fellowship, Myers stayed on staff as the Junior Golf & Player Development Manager and is working towards her PGA Membership. 

Tyler Bealke, the Section’s sixth Fellow, joined the staff in 2023 after interning as a USGA Boatwright Intern and working as a greenskeeper for two years. This background helped Tyler succeed in his Fellowship. After a role opened up at the Gateway Section office, he moved seamlessly into his current role as the Foundation Programs Coordinator. Now, Tyler oversees PGA HOPE, PGA ABLE, and PGA WORKS while assisting with foundation-related communications. He is currently working towards his PGA Membership. 

With an impressive group of Fellows advancing their careers in the world of golf and the continued success of other WORKS Fellows in their post-fellowship endeavors, the Gateway Section has established a WORKS Fellow Alumni Association. The Association serves as a platform for alumni to stay connected, share advice, and enjoy camaraderie through virtual games and in-person activities.

The remarkable achievements of Gateway PGA WORKS Fellows demonstrate our commitment to providing opportunities and cultivating a more inclusive and representative golf community. 

PGA HOPE runs deep in the Gateway, even before it was a formal program. When approached in 2011 about starting a free instructional program for Veterans, the newly formed PGA REACH Foundation didn’t hesitate at the opportunity. With the awareness of Veteran suicide on the rise, the need to serve those who courageously served their country was of utmost importance.

Since 2011 we have grown from one informal program to over 12 organized programs while serving over 250 veterans annually. The growth has been fueled by two forces: our PGA Members stepping up to instruct and the ever-growing list of Veterans who want to be part of the program. 

Gateway PGA Professionals have devoted countless hours to PGA HOPE, knowing the program’s power and ability to save lives. The number of PGA HOPE Sessions has doubled in the past two years alone. 

Women’s Only

Jon DePriest, PGA, took PGA HOPE programming a step further when he heard female Veterans were not signing up for clinics. After listening to the ladies’ concerns and fears, he hosted a women-only clinic in 2022.

As of June 2023, we have completed three Women’s Only HOPE Clinics at Sunset Hills Country Club, graduating over two dozen female Veterans. With the clinics’ success so far, DePreist and the Section hope to expand the program to bring golf to more female Veterans in the coming years. 

PGA HOPE Cup

We created an annual tournament called the PGA HOPE Cup to keep Veterans engaged in golf after graduating from a PGA HOPE Program. We have an opening ceremony with a Color Guard and the singing of the National Anthem. The Veterans then play a 9-hole scramble of four PGA HOPE Graduates. After the round of golf, everyone heads inside for a meal where we hand out awards, thank the Veterans and Professionals and spend the rest of the afternoon sharing stories. We hear from the Veterans that the HOPE Cup is a highlight of their year, where they feel honored and respected and are treated as if they are members of the Country Club. 

DePriest National Award Winner

Jon DePriest, the Director of Golf at Sunset Hills Country Club, was awarded the 2024 Patriot of the Year Award at the PGA Show this past January. Jon has raised over $750,000 for PGA HOPE and other veterans’ organizations. Through charity scrambles and an annual 100-Hole Challenge, DePriest dedicates his time and energy to giving back.

“My involvement with promoting the military veterans on behalf of the PGA of America is my personal effort to give my time to assist the many veterans of our country who were never properly thanked for their service,” DePriest shares. “I always try to be a leading example of how we, as PGA Professionals and citizens of the U.S., should treat our military veterans. My family has five generations of military service, which motivates me even more. I ask everyone to get involved and help as often as you can. I always wear red on Fridays to symbolize the need to return all our troops home safe.” – Jon DePriest, PGA.

PGA HOPE Volunteers

Gateway PGA HOPE graduate Bob Rosner and his wife, Nancy Bakay, serve as Hole Captains for the 13th Hole at the Ascension Charity Classic, a PGA TOUR Champions event held in St. Louis, Missouri. Bob and Nancy recruited 24 other Veterans from the PGA HOPE programs in the St. Louis and Illinois region to fill all volunteer positions for the 13th hole. 

During the Pro-Am Event in 2023, the neighboring 14th Hole was short on marshals, so PGA HOPE Veterans from Hole 13 helped. PGA HOPE Veterans marshaled the 13th Hole and assisted with the 14th. Recognized by their camouflaged Ascension Charity Classic hats, they received thanks from spectators and professional golfers, giving them a sense of honor and pride.

These Veterans, who have physical and emotional disabilities from their military service, included Eddie Delaney and his service dog, Paladin. Their story was featured on the Golf Channel and social media. As the tournament continued, more marshals were needed, and Ascension Charity Classic’s George Keller reached out to Nancy for help. The PGA HOPE Veterans repositioned to assist on the 18th Hole. The Ascension Charity Classic would not be successful without the involvement of PGA HOPE Veterans. 

Bob and Nancy are dedicated volunteers for all PGA of America Championships. They drive across the country and volunteer at the PGA Championship, Women’s KPMG PGA Championship, KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, and Ryder Cup. Having shared the success of a PGA HOPE-marshaled hole, the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship gathered PGA HOPE Graduates from the Pacific Northwest PGA HOPE Programs to volunteer. 

PGA HOPE Club Drive

Equipment is one of the most significant barriers for people trying to pick up golf. New golf equipment is expensive, and outdated golf equipment is challenging to use. Upon learning that many PGA HOPE Veterans attend programs without their own set of clubs, The Heidman Group and Delmar Mortgage launched the ‘Pars and Stripes Golf Club Drive’ to help Veterans overcome this barrier, collecting a total of 50 sets of clubs for PGA HOPE Gateway Vets across Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Junior Tour

Gateway PGA Junior Golf is the community leader in providing youth learning opportunities and ways to grow within the game of golf. We have multiple levels for golfers, ranging from beginners to those who want to compete at the collegiate level. These offerings include the Junior Development Tour, Nine-Hole tournaments, 18-hole tournaments, and Two-day tournaments.

In the past four seasons, we have seen a significant influx of junior programming members. Since 2020, the membership has grown from 569 to 750, a 31 percent increase. In response to the growth, we have doubled down. 

Our full-time staff went from one to two, and we have doubled the number of tournament operations interns. The coveted internship has seen a twofold increase in applications and provides interns with specialized opportunities for college credit. This additional staff has allowed us to run 90 tournaments, a 64 percent increase from 2020.

Junior Development Tour

Unique to PGA Sections, the Gateway PGA Junior Development Tour (JDT) is an easy and accessible entry point into golf for beginners. JDT is based on the American Development Model (ADM), which aims to maximize each athlete’s potential by developing principles that will create life-long golfers and athletes for generations. In the non-competitive system, the three levels of JDT progression can be reached by shooting target scores. As the juniors hit their target scores and move to the different tiers, the distances they play from lengthen.

Players start in Level 1 – Fairway Finders and progress to Level 2 – Birdie Ballers and Level 3 – Links Legends before graduating from JDT. JDT aims to teach juniors the rules and regulations of golf and further develop the junior’s skills during an on-course nine-hole tournament. Before every JDT event, the ‘Rule of the Day’ highlights a rule to familiarize the juniors with the regulations. In 2022, we saw over 50 percent of our JDT members move up a level, while 80 percent saw score improvements from the beginning of the season. 2024 JDT members are on pace to surpass these marks.

Junior Tour 2-Day Tournaments & Donations

Since 2022, every 2-Day Junior Tour tournament has been sponsored by a PGA Member who picks a charity to which a portion of the entry fees will be donated. Including 2024 estimated  2-Day charitable give-back donations, Gateway PGA Professionals have raised $9,330 for local charities. 

Scholarships

To allow more Juniors to participate in our Junior Golf programs, we launched the Junior Tour Scholarship Program thanks to the Buddy Fund. The Buddy Fund proudly supports at-risk youth throughout St. Louis by providing sports equipment and grants. In 2024, 12 Juniors have been awarded scholarships totaling $3,611 across 80 events. 

Every year, the Foundation grants a limited number of college scholarships to high school graduates through the Clarence Voigt Memorial Scholarship Fund. Voigt, a 58-year PGA Member, worked his way up at St. Clair Country Club after serving in the Navy during World War II. Voigt modeled traits of loyalty, courage, dedication, good sportsmanship, and determination in the way he lived his life. This scholarship fund was created to help young people who embody the same character traits. Over the past decade, we have awarded $46,000 in scholarships to 27 students. 

PGA Jr League

While we are small relative to other Sections in terms of membership size, our PGA Jr. League participation numbers are among the highest in the country. Since 2018, we have recorded at least 1,500 young golfers yearly, topping at a whopping 1,964. In that same period, we have given out over 1,200 scholarships and are on pace to exceed 260 in 2024.

We have high participation rates among participants and coaches. Coach participation has been rising since 2013, when we started with four. In 2024, we have grown to 89 programs, nearly one-third of our Section membership. Of those coaches, 13 have been recognized by the PGA as #GameChangers. The Gateway Section was recognized as the number one Section in facility penetration rate (percentage of PGA Jr. League Captains to total membership size) for three years, 2019-2021.

In 2022, the Gateway Section had 180 teams and 2,505 players. Additionally, three members earned #GameChanger recognition: Mike Suhre, PGA (the 5th largest program in the country), Blake Sharamitaro, PGA (the 11th largest), and Don Kueper, PGA. All three were also awarded the Player Engagement Award.

STEM

From 2015 to 2019, Jeffrey Field, PGA, led the charge for STEM education through golf in local elementary schools. Field led a group of over 25 PGA Professionals in teaching science, technology, engineering, and math and had wild success. During this time, over 1,275 students were introduced to the game of golf through fun and exciting experiments.

Gateway Golf Summit

While some of our programming is similar to other Sections, we pride ourselves on the uniqueness of the Gateway Golf Summit.

As an “Industry Summit,” the Gateway Golf Summit is designed to provide education, foster collaboration and conversation, and align industry efforts toward topics that most impact the game and the business of golf. The Summit provides a valuable experience in which every attendee can take ideas and input to apply to their unique role in the golf industry.

Every year, the Gateway PGA facilitates a discussion on growing the game by including the area’s and nation’s top stakeholders. Allied associations include the USGA, LPGA, CMCAA, GCSAA, First Tee, St. Louis District Golf Association, and more.

Gateway PGA Section: Recruiting & Retention

The Section Board of Directors met for two days at the start of 2023 to solidify the long-term strategic plan. One topic that was front of mind for many Professionals was the need to recruit and retain talent in the golf workforce. 

Retention

To help retain members, the Board and Section staff hosted the first New Member Orientation on May 12, 2023. The half-day meeting at the Section office allowed the Section, new members, associates, affiliates, PQs, EQs, and those in the golf industry to get to know each other. During this session, Career Consultant Jacque Madison, PGA,  Section President Grant Masson, PGA, Section Executive Director Ali Wells, PGA, and Programs Director Fernando Molina spoke about functions and support of the Section and Foundation and their journey to PGA Membership.  These Orientations have continued into 2024 with the Section hosting four total.

Officially launched in 2023, the Assistants Association aims to retain assistants, associates, and affiliates in the industry while developing leadership skills for the future. With Section oversight, the executive board operates in a similar model to the Section board, which allows Section leadership to interact with and mentor future Section leaders. The Assistants’ Association has scheduled monthly social golf rounds for assistants and professionals to strengthen their networks this year.

Recruiting

The growing demand for our Junior Tour has allowed us to expose more college students to all the roles the golf industry offers. Many students in the internship program need more experience with golf. Since the program started, multiple interns have returned for a second summer or gone on to work within the industry.

Maryville University and its Rawlings Sports Business Management Program visited the Gateway Section office in the summer of 2023 with 26 prospective high school students and university staff. During their visit, the students learned about the PGA of America and Gateway Section operations. The talk focused on how the PGA and the Section generate revenue and how that revenue is used. We also had our Career Consultant present to talk to students about the benefits of PGA Membership and the different career paths the golf industry offers.